Hit or miss? McDonald's acts to limit damage of bogus Twitter post

Twitter trouble McDonald's was forced into damage limitation mode last week by a hoax picture suggesting the fast-food chain would be charging African-American customers an extra $1.50.

An image posted on Twitter purported to show a sign, complete with McDonald's logo, which said the measure was prompted by 'a recent string of robberies'. As the story went global, McDonald's tweeted: 'That pic is a senseless & ignorant hoax.'

HOW I SEE IT

Angie Moxham, Founder and CEO, 3 Monkeys Communications

Online memes are set to challenge all brands as digital chatter channels continue to take hold. I feel for McDonald's; it's come a long way over the past few years in addressing so many issues. And the racist card is definitely one it doesn't deserve to be dealt; its statement was on the money.

It's hard to give a sensible critique without being privy to the full comms response. The only way to address these mini-crises is to issue an immediate response via all channels, while identifying and engaging with the key online influencers who are fanning the flames.

You can't fight Twitter just on Twitter - you need to cover all bases to manage tweets such as these quickly. Because McDonald's has reinvented itself so successfully in recent times, I doubt this will do any real damage.